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Intro to Concepts in Behavioral Economics and Decision Making - Mar 2010
Week 4
Let's do some thinking about behavioral economics and climate change.
READ:
An few articles on BE and climate change:
http://www.marcgunther.com/2009/11/16/whats-for-lunch-behaviorial-econom...
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1972936_19731...
Norm Theory:
The stuff on climate change made me think of Cialdini's norm theory. Basically they show if you think everyone else is stealing you're more likely to steal. You can actually get people to stop stealing if you say no one is doing it. You can also get more people to save electricity if you think others are also doing it:
http://www.hbs.edu/units/nom/pdf/Norms_Cialdini_2003.pdf
IF YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT MORE CONCEPTS CHECK OUT:
Heuristics
Cognitive Biases (a good reference for a lot of different biases)
DO:
Let's talk about behavioral economics and some of the issues around climate change. How can things like norms, or altruism inspire collective action? Please comment on the discussion section for week 4.
